Are their naps making them night owls?

I know this is different for every child. But I want to hear everyone's stories. My situation is... my kids LOVE naps. We began a strict sleeping schedule when they were about 8 months... that taught them to sleep at the same time. Now our story is... we wake around 8, nap from 1-4 (they'd go longer if I didn't wake them) and then bedtime is suppose to be at 8:30..but some nights they lay in their beds till midnight talking. The problem is this... I have tried to wake them up earlier from their naps and they are so GRUMPY!!! It totally ruins our evening. I have tried not putting them down for naps...but then they end up passing out around 5ish. I have even had one fall asleep while eating on a day with no nap. They have a tendancy to sleep in (which makes us late for preschool) b/c they stay up late at night playing. The reason I think they play so long...b/c they aren't tired from their naps!! I know it is kinda full circle, and I'm not sure what to do...but I thought I'd see if anyone else has had and fixed this problem. Also I'm curious to know if your 3 year olds still nap

 

This sounds like my son! My dd gave up the nap on her own and my ds LOVED napping. He woke up around 7:30, napped from 1 to 4 (and I had to wake him up) and bedtime was at 7:30/8 and he started staying up until 10pm or later OR getting up at 4AM and being ready to start the day! :faint: so I took out his nap. It was hard for the first few weeks (I'm not going to lie, it was bad some days) He would be cranky or fall asleep around 2/3pm (during quiet time) but that passed and now he gets up at 7 and goes to bed at 6:45. :good:

If you decide to take out their naps, definitely put them to bed earlier. :good: Good luck!

 

We have "rest time" in front of the TV on the floor in the living room. We all lay down. Napping was becoming harder and harder for them to go down (the opposite of yours) and when they did fall asleep, they were up until 10 pm. So, we started rest time and have them down for no longer than an hour if at all. If they dont nap they are asleep by 7:30-7:45 and its awesome. We had a day last week where Derek napped for 2 hours (he had a cold and I didnt want to wake him) and he was up until 11pm that night. So that just showed me that I made the right choice to try and limit naps for the boys.

 

We took away our oldest DS's nap when he was 3 because we noticed on the days he took naps he was wired and staying awake until 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. :faint: It was making us crazy!! So, after a few weeks of a grumpy, tired 3-year-old., he adjusted and fell right to sleep when he went to bed at 7:30!

 

We limit nap times now, or don't give them naps, because my girls do the same thing. If they have a nap longer than an hour, they are up until 11:00 talking and playing. It just isn't something that my DH and I can do with us working and him going to school. So we only do naps on the weekends. Without naps they are out by 8:30 at the latest, most of the time they can't make it past 8:00. Plus, they sleep better as well. I think you should try to limit naps to no more than 2 hours and see how that works. If they are still up too late, then take them down to 1 1/2 hours. At least experiment a little to see if that will help.

 

Naps became hard for us. One would nap and wanted to but the other did not need a nap so much and kept his brother awake. So naps were a battle. Then the late nights, I'm not tired started happening so we took Naps away. It was hard the first 2-3 weeks. I had to not drive anywhere after lunch and fight hard to keep one awake when I did the 10 min get the kids from school run at 3 pm. But we adjusted and bedtime is so much easier when they do not have naps. I will admit that once a week the nap lover still gets his nap, falling asleep in front of TV or driving in th car but he still goes to sleep OK at night so I do not worry about it. Not to mention his nap is on Sunday usually while we are at afternoon church so it makes church easier....a blessing itself.

Cindy

 

I still think naps are important for a 3 year old. DS is nearly 4 and I put him down for a nap around 12 noon most days (same as his daycare schedule). Some days he'll sleep around 2-ish, other days he just lies around and can't fall asleep. But it works out ok and then bedtime is at 7:30. He wakes up around 7 most mornings.

 

Most days our girls no longer nap. It's allowed at daycare buy rarely does a kid nap. It's made bedtime very easy and pretty early (7 - 7.30 ish). One thing we did at the start was to put them down to nap at the weekends only - for 2-3 hours as they really needed to catch up. So the no-napping thing wasn't initially every day.

More recently they've begun watching a DVD during that time instead. We don't have TV and most days they don't watch anything, so I don't mind them spending 30-60 mins with a film a couple of times a week. This gives them downtime. Alternatively I'll read to them, but this sometimes causes them to fall asleep!

The other thing we find is that if we happen to be driving home from somewhere in the afternoon (even daycare), if they're really tired they'll fall asleep. We don't let them doze for more than 15 mins and this somehow seems enough to help with the rest of the day but not so much that they can't wake without being grumpy, nor does it interfere with their nights.

In the end, although I dreaded losing the naps, the wonderful impact it's had on bedtime more than makes up for it. Even the evening routine, which was getting longer and longer, is now back to two books, two songs and they're usually already asleep.

Good luck

 

I could write your post word for word. I treasure the naptime during the day for my much needed break; however, our evenings are so long and getting them to stay in their beds is at times a huge battle. I would love for them to just rest or play quietly in their rooms. I may try to instill this after the rush of the Christmas season. Good luck!

 

Mine still nap and turned 4 today. They go to bed at 8pm go right to sleep and wake at 6am, early but it works for us and I am so used to it since they have never been late sleepers, ever. I think the record here is 7:15am. They go to nap around 1pm and if they do not wake on their own the latest I let them sleep is 3pm. IMO, I also think a 3 year old needs a nap but if anything start waking them after 2 hours max, I think 3 hours may be too long. They may be grumpy the first few days but it takes a few days to adjust. GL!

 

My girls stopped napping right around age 3. They still have quiet time around 1pm and watch a movie. Occasionally one will doze off, but not very often. Bedtime was such a nightmare before we dropped the nap, it wasn't hard to let it go because bedtime became much easier.

 

Based on what I've read about sleep, most 3-4 year olds need anywhere from 10-14 hours sleep, between night sleep and nap, so we've been aiming for about 11-12 hours. (Not always getting, but aiming for!) See this link:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-much-sleep-does-your-child-need_64915.bc

Ours were still in a solid nap schedule at age 3 and up until almost 3 and a half. Then, they started to really resist naptime, but preschool was starting up in the Fall, so we stuck with it, but "shortened up" the nap to about 1.5 hours and skipped nap on select days (with a much earlier bedtime on those days.)

Recently, at just a few months before age 4, on "nap" days", bedtime became impossible (kids still awake at 10:30 or 11 pm), so we are easing out of naptime and into rest time or quiet time. This sometime results in BIG meltdowms right before dinner (by one or the other or both), and we've also had to move up bedtime, which makes the evening routine sort of a whirlwind, but it is the new reality and it is working out.

I think the key is to move up bedtime when there is no nap. But, at age 3, you may still be able to keep the nap, if you shorten it up.

Hang in there! The end of "napping" is hard -- I've been dreading it forever!

Meg -- mom to 3.75 year old boy/girl twins